Catalyzing Change in Elementary Math

 

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Writing Task Force CATALYZING CHANGE in Early Childhood and Elementary Mathematics Initiating Critical Conversations 

One of my favorite teachers in my undergraduate work in college taught the course Elementary Math Methods. I never missed it. The instructor had a sharp sense of humor, showed empathy, and was relentless in having us experience the joy of developing a deeper understanding of how to teach math. It is the one textbook I kept from all those years ago. 

When I pick it up, I can see myself in my self-selected assigned seat, spiral binder to the right, fervently writing detailed notes to use later for the anxiety-ridden test ahead of me. When I looked at my scribbles in the book’s margin, there were many formulas and steps to take to come to an endpoint or answer. Yikes! Maya Angelou's well-known quote came to mind, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Using evidence-informed research, “Catalyzing Change in Early Childhood and Elementary Mathematics offers four critical recommendations for launching children into a successful life-long journey with mathematics. These recommendations catalyze the initiation of crucial conversations about needed shifts in early childhood and elementary mathematics. We know more about how to provide equitable mathematics learning opportunities for students and we can all do better.

Catalyzing Change four recommendations will require commitment, actions, and ongoing conversations to impact each of our student’s beliefs and mindset about their ability to “do the math,” including;

Broadening The Purposes of School Mathematics

✔ Develop Deep Mathematical Understanding

✔ See themselves as Confident and Capable Learners

✔ Understand and Analyze Their Word Through Mathematics

✔ Experience Wonder, Joy, and Beauty of Mathematics

“Mathematics becomes joyful when children have opportunities to learn mathematics in ways they see as relevant to their identities and communities and when they are encouraged to explore, create, and make meaning in mathematics” (p. 18). 

Creating Equitable Structures in Mathematics

✔ Dismantle Inequitable Structures

✔ Move From Exclusion to Inclusion

✔ Shift from Readiness to Learning

✔ Consider Alternatives from High Stakes Testing to ‘Sitting Beside.’

✔ Aligning Curriculum to Integrity of ‘Depth’ rather than Fidelity of ‘Breadth of Coverage.’

“Each and every teacher needs to be supported as continuous learners with ongoing professional development to advance and grow in mathematics content and equitable mathematics instruction as well as to have opportunities to interrogate societal beliefs and individual implicit bias” (p. 42). 

Implementing Equitable Mathematics Instruction

✔ Consistent with Informed Research

✔ Equitable Teaching Practices

✔ Nurture Children’s Positive Mathematical Identities

✔ Provide a Strong Sense of Agency

“Equitable learning opportunities are the result of equitable instruction” (p. 57).

Building A Foundation of Deep Mathematical Understanding

✔ Underscore Students as Active Doers

✔ Emphasize Students as Knowers and Sense Makers 

“Early childhood and elementary mathematics is a time for children to discover the beauty of how numbers and operations are related. It should be a time to nurture children’s numerical curiosities and wonder” (p. 89). 

I read Catalyzing Change in Early Childhood and Elementary Mathematics as a book study with other district teacher leaders and administrators. Catalyzing Change offers evidence-informed research and guidelines for our decision to impact teaching and learning. I am confident we will make a decision that meets the needs of each of our students. Our evolving conversations will allow us to continue to know and do better as we learn from each other.